Have You Heard?

"God said, that "O Lord" of yours, is My, "Here I am", and that supplication and grief and ardor of yours is my messenger to you.
Your shifts and attempts to find a means of gaining access to me, were in reality my drawing you towards Me, and released your feet from the bonds of worldliness.
Your fear and love are the noose to catch my favor; beneath every 'O Lord' of yours  is many a
'Here am I' from Me....
Grief is better than the empire of the world, so that you may call upon God in secret.
The call of the grief-less is from a frozen heart, the call of the grieving one is from rapture."

Rumi (Vol. 3, from 195-204)

Commentary: Rumi insists that grief and pain and sorrow, are signs of grace. When they can feel like abandonment and rejection, it is good to be reminded that this pain of separation is  a gift of divine love. Not quite as comforting as chocolates and flowers, but precious nevertheless.